Chapter 99

Chapter 99

By now, I’ve seen enough that nothing should surprise me anymore.

And yet, I was still being scared half to death.

The corpse in the pool sent me tumbling to the ground, so terrified I nearly wet myself.

But when I looked up, the security guard had vanished into thin air.

I summoned the courage to scramble back to my feet and rushed to the edge of the pool for another look. There was no corpse to be seen. It was as if the whole thing had been a hallucination.

I was certain I wasn’t dreaming. I was wide awake.

But what on earth was going on?

How did that security guard find me? How did he know I was at the hospital?

And why did I see his corpse in the pool at the same time he was right there?

Was he dead? Was that his spirit trying to guide me toward something just now?

I looked back and saw the hospital security guard come running out from the inpatient building. He was standing a short distance away, watching me with a curious expression.

I hurried over and asked if he had seen another man in a security uniform just now.

“What… what man?”

The hospital guard looked at me blankly. “I’m the only one on duty here. Besides, you came downstairs by yourself just now. There wasn’t anyone else. I even called out to you twice, but you didn’t answer me.”

My eyes widened in disbelief.

I distinctly remembered that no one had called out to me. Was his voice so quiet that I hadn’t heard him?

But the factory guard had clearly run down from upstairs and bolted right through the main doors of the inpatient building in broad daylight. How could the hospital guard not have seen him?

I swallowed hard, knowing for certain that I had encountered something supernatural.

By now, the sky was starting to turn a hazy gray with the coming dawn. An inexplicable sense of dread settled in my gut. I had a feeling that something… something terrible had happened to that factory guard.

I rushed back to the ward and shook Meng Yifan awake.

He was still dazed with sleep and asked what was wrong.

“I just saw a ghost…”

The moment the words left my mouth, he bolted upright as if his back were on springs, staring at me in terror.

“That factory guard… something probably happened to him,” I said, frowning.

“How do you know?” He looked stunned.

I recounted everything that had just happened.

As bizarre as it was, after everything I’d been through, I had developed a basic intuition for these things.

If nothing had happened to that guard, there was no way he could have known where I was, and I wouldn’t have seen that corpse in the pool.

He likely had something to say to me-something important he wanted to tell me.

Perhaps I was supposed to receive a call from him last night, but something happened to him before he could make it.

As for why it happened… it was likely because of that very phone call.

Someone didn’t want him leaking any secrets.

“When we went to the factory yesterday, the prime suspect was there too. He might have seen us,” I said.

Meng Yifan caught on quickly. “You mean, the prime suspect was afraid the guard would reveal that he was the one who stole the motorcycle, so he killed him to keep him quiet?”

I nodded. “The guard is most likely dead.”

Meng Yifan broke into a cold sweat. “Holy shit… another death. When we went there yesterday, we didn’t see anyone suspicious at all. Where the hell was he watching us from?”

“My dad…” I said thoughtfully.

“You suspect your dad again?”

I shook my head. “No, I mean my dad might be in danger too. I’ve already tracked things back to the factory, which makes me a threat to that person. I’m afraid I’ll end up dragging my dad into this…”

In fact, I had already dragged the security guard into it.

If I hadn’t gone to the factory to investigate, he probably wouldn’t have met with foul play.

“Then hurry up and call your father!”
Meng Yifan urged me, “Tell him not to go to the factory for now. Tell him to take a leave of absence or just quit. That person is a complete psychopath who’s capable of anything. If something happens to your dad too… it really will be too late.”

It was already dawn, and my dad should have been up by now.

I grabbed my phone and called him immediately.

The call connected quickly. It was noisy on his end; it sounded like my dad was already on the bus heading to work.

“Why are you calling me so early in the morning? What’s wrong?” my dad’s voice came through the line.

I spoke to him with total gravity. “Dad, are you on your way to the factory? Don’t go. Ask Uncle Huang for some time off-a long leave, preferably. Don’t go to the factory for the next few days.”

Naturally, my dad didn’t understand. He asked in confusion, “Why would I take leave for no reason? And a long one at that? Did something happen to you?”

“Just listen to me!” My temper flared, mostly because I had no idea how to explain it to him. “I’m doing this for your own good. Just stay away from the factory!”

“What kind of fit are you throwing this early in the morning?” My dad sounded displeased. “If there’s something wrong, just say it. The factory is busy lately; we’ve taken on a lot of orders. I have to handle all the accounts, big and small. What do you mean, I shouldn’t go?”

I had the phone on speaker, so Meng Yifan heard everything. He was anxious too, frantically gesturing at me and making a throat-slitting motion.

In a moment of sheer brain-dead desperation, I blurted out, “Dad, I’m dying…”

“What!” my dad yelled. “Chen Mo, is there something wrong with your head? If you have something to say, say it. Otherwise, I’m hanging up.”

“I…”

Before I could finish, my dad hung up on me.

Meng Yifan looked at me like I was a lunatic. “Are you brain-damaged? I wanted you to tell him directly that there’s a murderer at their factory! What is wrong with your listening comprehension?”

I was just panicked and overwhelmed.

How was I supposed to explain everything to my dad on the spot?

I’d have to start from the moment I began seeing ghosts. Would he even believe me?

I told Meng Yifan we had to go back to the factory. I had to get my dad out of there. If he wouldn’t leave willingly, I’d tie him up and drag him away.

Something had already happened to Fang Man. I only had one father, and I wasn’t going to let anything happen to him too.

Just then, a nurse came in for rounds. Before leaving, she warned Meng Yifan and me not to go running off again.

Neither of us were the obedient type. The moment she stepped out, we slipped out of the ward and left the hospital again.

Finding a taxi was too much of a hassle, so Meng Yifan took his car. We filled up the tank at a nearby gas station before rushing back to the factory.

As soon as we reached the factory gates, it was clear that something had indeed happened.

A crowd had gathered outside the security room. My dad was there too, standing on the outskirts of the group to see what the commotion was about.

My first instinct was that the security guard was dead-killed right there in the security room. However, I soon realized that while the security room was fine, something had happened to the guard himself, just not at the factory.

I hurried over and pulled my dad to one side.

He was startled when he saw Meng Yifan and me. “What are you two doing back here?”

I asked him, “Did something happen to someone at the factory?”

His expression shifted slightly. “One of the security guards is in trouble. He didn’t go home after his shift yesterday. His family called the factory early this morning to check on him, and since he was supposed to be on duty again today but never showed up, everyone got worried.”

“Someone just called the police, fearing the worst. But as soon as the call went through, the police told them to come identify a body. They said someone drowned in the river last night, and the body was wearing one of our factory’s ID badges. It’s likely that guard.”

Even though I had been mentally prepared for bad news, hearing my dad say it still made my skin crawl.

Drowned in the river…